News & Articles on Nuclear Power

Nuclear is not renewable, but it's listed here for organizational reasons. I wasn't really interested in nuclear, didn't think it had any future, and that it was effectively dead. I wasn't writing about it. However, like a vampire, nuclear kept rising from the grave and stalking the land. Talk continued of reviving it one more time. This talk had a real effect on public policy in North America, especially in Ontario, Canada. Thus, I felt it necessary to include nuclear topics and this was the place on my web site where it was easiest to insert.

There is a small group of scientists that have proposed replacing 100% of the world’s fossil fuel power plants with nuclear reactors as a way to solve climate change. Many others propose nuclear grow...

When he was prime minister, Junichiro Koizumi championed the use of atomic power to generate electricity. . . Koizumi, in office from 2001 to 2006, and widely regarded as one of Japan's most popular...

President Emmanuel Macron of France depressed nuclear executives globally in late November 2018, announcing the planned retirement of 14 of 58 reactors by 2035. This was still less than was promised...

Congressman Salud Carbajal announced a new bill Monday to encourage investment in renewable energy businesses in San Luis Obispo County. The bill, called the Energy Opportunity Zone Act, is targeted...

France has announced (report in French) the abandonment of plans first adopted in 2012 to reduce the share of nuclear from 75% to 50% by 2025. The reason given is that such a fast reduction would not...

But 43 of Japan's 54 original reactors are still offline. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for his part, has promoted a policy of restarts, but he is politically weaker now than at any time since...

Ukraine is talking to one of France’s largest energy companies about building a giant, billion-euro ($1.25 billion) solar park in the uninhabited radioactive zone surrounding the abandoned Chernobyl...

An Indian airliner passing over Europe lost radio contact and had to be escorted by fighter jets (it could have been a terrorist attack). As the plane passed over German reactors, some were evacuated...

Desperate to cover the latest catastrophic meltdown to hit the nuclear industry as Toshiba sinks under the weight of its failures to construct nuclear power plant through its Westinghouse subsidiary,...

However, what’s being missed in this narrative is the hundreds of districts across Japan that are building local distributed energy systems that maximize efficiency and use of local renewable-energy...

The cost of cleaning up Tokyo Electric Power’s wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant may rise to several billion dollars a year, from less than US$800 million now, Japan’s industry ministry said on...

The state’s Fair Political Practices Commission has launched a formal probe into the California Democratic Party, sparked by allegations of corruption and a tangle of close ties involving the party,...

While Japan’s once-charged anti-nuclear movement struggles to retain its momentum five years after the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi remains doggedly determined...

The inside story of how a little known group and its level-headed activists led to the closure of two of the most infamous nuclear reactors in the United States. The forthcoming closure of the two...[more]

EDF leaders are now in such a state of panic over their Hinkley C proposals that desperate messages were being sent out to tell the British Government that they need to take a £6 billion equity share...

But it's also generating controversy, as it props up the state's faltering nuclear industry to the tune of about $500 million a year in subsidies—and potentially lays out a blueprint for other states...

The Democratic Party Platform calls for a global summit to solve the climate crisis within the first 100 days of the new administration and a WWII-level mobilization to combat climate change. If...[more]

Once again, EDF's superb public relations is convincing people that its disastrous Hinkley C power plant project is moving ahead, whilst the reality is that it is announcing that the project will not...

The Otsu District Court ruled against Kansai Electric Power Co. for the third time in five months Tuesday, in a decision that will keep its Takahama No. 3 and 4 reactors in Fukui Prefecture shut down...

Yet, Brexit does offer a unique opportunity for the European community to put an end to the support of nuclear power. Therefore, the termination of the EURATOM Treaty needs to be put on the EU agenda...

This tells us two things. First, that California has been resting on its laurels since the early 1980s, regarding geothermal. Not much has been done since. Second, it tells us because of California’s...[more]

Weeks after the first new US reactor in decades failed to ramp up for the first time, the Washington Post has run two articles on how important the reactor will be in combating climate change. There...

Strange as it may seem, there is now a plausible argument for anti-nuclear campaigners to call for Hinkley C to be built. Why? Because the financial catastrophe that would, as a result, envelope, and...

So we are backing up the cheap renewables with fossil fuels that are not so cheap, and the solution to that is to use the fossil fuels that are not so cheap all the time? That sum does not quite add...

The 1-cubic-meter bags are found at some 114,700 interim storage or decontamination sites across the prefecture. In the town of Tomioka -- covered by a nuclear disaster evacuation order -- mounds of...

The belief that somehow nuclear power will be cheaper if somehow it is done differently here has been stoked by a recent IEA Report which says that British nuclear power, in the shape of the proposed...

Finally, a sophisticated, sober, and revealing explanation of why successive British governments have been hell bent on building two new--and very expensive--reactors by the French & Chinese. It just...

Environmental groups are urging the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission to release a study on nuclear disaster scenarios that they say was suppressed. The commission released a study last year looking...

As widespread incredulity spreads about the UK Government's insistence that the plan to build Hinkley C nuclear power station is still on track, we must wonder which country and which companies will...

Fifty-seven percent of respondents to the weekend survey opposed Kyushu Electric Power Co's restart of a reactor at its Sendai plant in southwest Japan, set for Tuesday. Thirty percent supported the...

French energy activists, Association négaWatt, have released their plan for France to reach nearly 100% renewable energy by 2050 in English. The move is a dramatic step by the French NGO to draw the...[more]

So far, as said elsewhere, we are witnessing a Government which is dismantling sustainable energy policies. The energy world is broadly going in one direction – and as said before that’s not the same...

France is not ramping up renewables fast enough, so it will not reach that target anyway. Furthermore, it will not reach its target for the reduction in nuclear power, which is completely unrealistic...

In a brief study, the French operator of the country’s nuclear plants unsurprisingly finds that backup generation capacity for fluctuating wind and solar will need to be as flexible as possible. The...

A court in Japan has dealt a blow to plans by the prime minister, Shinzo Abe, to relaunch nuclear power generation four years after the Fukushima meltdown by halting the restart of two reactors over...

This view once again highlights the gap between government policy and reality. EDF are certainly not going to go ahead without at least a guarantee of compensation from the UK Government in the event...

The UK is now ‘issuing threats’ to Austria that a series of retaliatory measures will be undertaken if Austria goes ahead with its legal challenge to the EU State Aid decision approving GB Government...

While the government says it will approve restarting idled nuclear reactors after the NRA's clearance, NRA Chairman Shunichi Tanaka says he is not saying it is safe and would not commit to endorsing...

But critics say the move by an agency under the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry does little to solve the basic electricity transmission issues, and hint that the real purpose of the changes...

Denmark's steady fall in emissions and adoption of policies to expand renewable energy gave it a score of 77.76, putting it in the highest spot in fourth place for the third year running, followed by...

With £37bn of financial promises and loan guarantees still pledged to Hinkley Point C, the Coalition is still betting heavily on Milk Rounds. And with unlimited endorsements of 'Fracking' and further...

In Britain nuclear's recent record for availability is not outstanding - 65 per cent according to the Digest of UK Energy Statistics for the year 2008-2012. Remember this is for a technology that is...

Former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi again blasted the Abe administration’s pro-nuclear energy strategy, saying the plan to restart reactors across the nation is “too optimistic” and goes against...

I argue that nuclear energy ceased to be a viable option in the world's energy mix as the result of the disappearance of the subsidies it received in the form of plutonium purchases by the military....

There is broad consensus for the Swiss nuclear phaseout, even across party lines. In the latest representative survey of 1,264 households in Switzerland, a large majority of the Swiss expressed their...

Areas with periodic droughts, like California, Australia, and even the US and Canadian west (remember the dust bowl) need to preserve their rivers and aquifers, or face severe economic consequences....

Andrew DeWit of Rikkyo University talked about Koizumi’s vision and laid out how Japan’s energy path could change. Its power market is being deregulated, the number of independent power producers is...

Japan will scrap its grand nuclear energy plans centering on the accident-prone Monju fast breeder reactor, a decision that will likely force a reassessment of a fuel cycle program that was supposed...

Japan’s energy policy is at a watershed; the country must now decide which form of energy to adopt as its foundation of the society. Japan Renewable Energy Foundation is urging the government to take...

Ed Davey's excuse for limiting wind power contracts to 15 years whilst Hinkley C gets a whopping 35 year contract is blown away by some elementary history checking. Lots of wind turbines in Altamont...

Judging from the chatter in social media, the German renewables community is quite pleased at the announcement of a new nuclear plant in the UK. The prices are now, finally, so transparent -- and so...

The Government's hoo-hah over the Hinkley C nuclear deal hides what should be regarded as a decision by the British state - after denying it for years - to give a blank cheque for the power plant. In...

There are many interesting points about the much trailed nuclear announcement today but the ones I find particularly interesting is that regarding the 10% return on investment and the various issues...

Costs can’t be ignored, not only is the playing field for the cost of nuclear uneven, in respect to learning rates, despite widespread deployment they are not falling – recent estimates suggest that...

How could the world have misjudged the dangers associated with nuclear power, especially those from the light water reactors that so dominate the nuclear industry today? The simple answer is lack of...

In a report released today, the Pembina Institute and Greenpeace Canada questions Ontario’s commitment to new and refurbished nuclear plants. The groups say that a mix of conservation and renewables...[more]

Mohl called the 41-year-old plant no longer financially viable, and said the closure announcement gives employees and customers more certainty. He pledged that the company will ensure the plant will...

Again, we are only dealing with proposals here, but clearly the EU is seriously considering allowing capacity payments for nuclear towards ensuring the reliability of de-carbonized power supply; the...

The operator of Japan’s tsunami-hit nuclear power plant sounded the alarm on the gravity of the deepening crisis of containment at the coastal site on Friday, saying that there are more than 200,000...

About 800 people are engaged in decommissioning work, outnumbering those who had operated the nuclear power plant. Because the initial phase of the decommissioning operation takes more than 30 years,...

As the scope of the latest crisis became clearer on Wednesday, Japan’s popular prime minister, Shinzo Abe, ordered his government to intervene in the cleanup of the plant — taking a more direct role...

French utility EDF, the world's biggest operator of nuclear plants, is pulling out of nuclear energy in the United States, bowing to the realities of a market that has been transformed by cheap shale...

Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), one of California’s major electric utilities, shut down its 1,122 MW Unit #1 at its Diablo Canyon nuclear plant last week just as the state prepared for a serious heat...[more]

The Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station operated at 43 per cent power in May new figures show, losing millions of dollars for the month and dragging its overall performance numbers to a new low,...

There’s no sugar-coating what happened last week. Ontario’s Minister of Energy, Bob Chiarelli, used the occasion of the annual conference of the Canadian Solar Energy Industry Association (CanSIA) to...[more]

There is a two-day public hearing underway on Ontario's Pickering nuclear power plant licence extension. Meanwhile, the public hearing on a proposed wind farm in Prince Edward County has been going...[more]

“This is very good news for the people of Southern California,” said Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth. “We have long said that these reactors are too dangerous to operate and now Edison...

In a hard-hitting letter to all members of Ontario's Provincial Parliament, the Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA) has called for legislative sanctions against SNC-Lavalin and their CANDU...[more]

In a report riddled with pro-nuclear fantasy hopes and statements, the Select Committee of MPs which scrutnises the Department of Energy and Climate Change has called upon the Government to give much...

Proponents of nuclear often argue that we cannot do without the technology if we are going to lower our carbon emissions from the energy sector. As a new study by French energy expert Bernard Chabot...

In the next few weeks, the future of nuclear in the UK could be decided. French electricity provider EDF is essentially asking for guaranteed prices – feed-in tariffs – for the electricity generated...

Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project will take about 19 months longer to complete than originally expected and cost about $740 million more than originally thought, the company said...

This 40 year contract length means that consumers will be paying the premium under the 'contract for differences' (CfD) arrangements for more than twice as long compared to what the Government wants...

The report’s concluding remarks should send chills down the spines of politicians, industry, and policymakers on both sides of France’s political divide. Those in positions of authority, say the...[more]

France is at an energy crossroads. To meet future electricity needs, the country could extend the operating lives of nuclear power plants beyond 40 years, accepting the safety challenges and costs of...

Since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear incident in March 2011, there has been an active debate on the future of Japan’s nuclear energy program. The feed-in tariff (FIT) law took effect in July 2012. [1]...

Nearly 2% of Land Area Set Aside for Wind Energy
Not 100%, Not 200%, But 300% Renewable Energy by 2020 Says Government
The German state of Schleswig-Holstein recently approved doubling the land...[more]

One day in the not-too-distant future — probably sooner than many expect — some parts of the world will have power grids that are completely powered by renewables. Eventually, the entire world could...

he Windsor Star reported that all of Canada's nuclear reactors are supplying the grid. I find it interesting that it is considered newsworthy that the reactors are actually operating, reportedly for...

Outages at U.S. nuclear power plants so far in 2012 are generally higher than in recent years because of extended forced outages at four nuclear power plants. U.S. nuclear reactor operators typically...

The German decision to pursue a nuclear-free future was, however, anything but precipitous or unmindful of climate change. Because of a combination of historical and political factors, Germany has in...

Britain's energy policy is in trouble. Plans to have five more nuclear plants running by 2025 look like missing their targets without significant foreign investment, part of which, until recently, it...

WNET: We want to ask you some questions about alternative energy. Gipe. Whoa. Stop right there. "Alternative energy?" Wind, solar, and biomass haven't been called "alternative energy" for three...[more]

Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has announced the results of the first two full months of the nation's feed-in tariff program (FiT), reporting that 1.03 GW of applications for...

Japanese mobile phone group and prime proponent of Feed-in Tariffs, Softbank, is planning to build wind farms with up to 1GW of capacity on Hokkaido island, as the company expands its investments in...

GBG's Bettina Meyer has analyzed studies on these external costs in her recent report. She estimates that additional risks raise the cost of nuclear energy to between 0.11 and 0.34 euros per kWh. If...

Renewable energy sources are commonly believed to be incapable of offering a stable power supply, but biomass, made from wood and animal-based materials such as livestock waste, is a source that has...

As a result of research, this report reveals that Japan has a enough possibility to attainrenewable energy society. This is because Japan has strong public mind toward clean energysuch as solar power...

In a rare move by a former Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama joined a boisterous anti-nuclear demonstration outside his old office on July 20, a fresh sign that the ruling party he once led is...

For the third consecutive Friday evening, thousands of Japanese took to the streets of their capital to vent frustration with the government's move to restart idled nuclear power plants. Earlier this...

Perhaps more seriously, the San Onofre nuclear plant (SONGS), owned and operated jointly by Southern California Edison and San Diego Gas & Electric, has been shut down since January due to unexpected...

Tens of thousands of demonstrators held antinuclear energy rallies in Tokyo, Osaka and U.S. cities Friday over the government's decision to restart the first idled reactors since the Fukushima No. 1...

Anyone who says last year's catastrophe at Fukushima was an aberration is literally whistling past the graveyard. The risks are real, and it's time to get rid of these time bombs before they go off....

The fact that Germany, in the aftermath of the 2011 Fukushima disaster, redoubled its efforts to phase out nuclear energy has nothing to do with hysteria or postwar angst. On the contrary, a majority...